Hurricane Matthew is devastating. According to the New York Times, Florida’s “Atlantic coast is feeling the force of the Category 3 storm, and the National Weather Service warns of ‘extremely dangerous and life-threatening’ winds. ‘Evacuate, evacuate, evacuate,’ the governor urged 1.5 million residents yesterday.” More from their reporters about the destruction in Florida, South Carolina and elsewhere can be found here.

It is the decade’s most powerful Atlantic tropical storm. Its rain and winds have killed more than 280 people so far and displaced 15,000 people in Haiti. Many people are cut off from access to relief supplies, with roads and bridges washed away or impassable. Flooding from the storm is expected to exacerbate pre-existing epidemics such as cholera, dengue fever, and Zika.

Now the storm is wreaking havoc and destruction as it tears its way over the east coast of the Florida peninsula through tonight, and near or over the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina on Saturday. According to the Washington Post, Gov. Rick Scott has declared a state of emergency in Florida, as have the governors in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. Gov. Scott said that some mandatory and voluntary evacuations were in place in Florida on Wednesday.

We already know that federal and state government aid won’t be enough. Our charitable contributions are also necessary to reach the thousands of people now without homes.

Funds raised will be used for mid- to long-term recovery efforts in areas affected by Hurricane Matthew, with the goal of supporting the most vulnerable populations, and filling the gaps in government and international aid. By pooling our resources and acting collectively, we can have a far greater impact on long-term recovery.

How to support those impacted by the devastating hurricane:

Make this Fund available on your employer’s workplace giving platform. Donating at the workplace is convenient and has proven to facilitate greater levels of giving. If you are a client of America’s Charities, please contact us at clientsolutions@charities.org and we’ll set it up on your behalf.

Or test-drive America's Charities powered by Causecast's crowdfunding tool while helping us raise money for this urgent need by donating now via credit card or PayPal at https://goo.gl/DktyYo.

By giving to the America’s Charities Disaster Recovery Fund – Hurricane Matthew, your donation dollars are distributed to vetted nonprofits, based on in-depth research conducted by CDP. America's Charities will disperse donations as the needs of the disaster dictates, and we'll be in touch every step of the way so you know specifically how your donation has advanced the recovery process. We'll share as many stories and pictures of those nonprofits on the ground that we can. You can read more about our partnership here.

We all instinctively give with our hearts, which means when disaster strikes, we give immediately and intuitively. Yet that doesn’t always help in the long run, and we are not always sure if our donations are really improving the lives of people in need. Our Fund leverages American generosity—your generosity—by enabling immediate donations and using CDP’s expert analysis to best determine how those funds should be allocated to vetted charities over the long-term.